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Cell Phones in education - blog post by Wes Fryer at www.isteconnects.org

Presentations about the uses of cell phones to support learning both inside and outside the traditional classroom have been popular as well as contentious at educational technology conferences in the past year. I first become aware of the wide variety of constructive ways cell phones can be used to support learning through Liz Kolb's presentation for the 2007 K-12 Online Conference, "Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools." Liz is the author of the blog "From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning," and published the book "Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education" with ISTE in 2008. This past week, at the eTechOhio conference in Columbus, I heard Ohio technology director Ryan Collins' outstanding presentation "Cellphones in the classroom? Yes way!" In his session Ryan identified seven different ways cell phones can and are being used to support learning:

I used to be a massive advocate of using mobile phones in lessons; the ways they could be used are just endless. I had students use them to research topics; find the answers to a question we didn't know, even as voting devices. I used them just rarely enough that students didn't take it as a given and rarely tried to use their phones for uses other than I intended. I even use them to avoid printing off sheet after sheet of homework, instead having students take a picture on their phone (with the added bonus that they can't lose the sheet).

The Future of the Phone: an interview with Tom Vanderbilt, who says the phone call's day may be passing.

"Students perform less well in end-of-term exams if they are allowed access to an electronic device, such as a phone or tablet, for non-academic purposes in lectures, a new study in Educational Psychology finds. Students who don't use such devices themselves but attend lectures where their use is permitted also do worse, suggesting that phone/tablet use damages the group learning environment."

"MailBliss is a free email service that allows you to get an email address for your phone. Any emails sent to your new mailbliss email address will be forwarded to your phone as a text message."

This looks pretty good, but it appears that it would be a long distance call from the US. It also appears that there is an app that may circumvent this, however there app is only iOS based. Is anyone aware of anything based in the US or Android based?

My last post was incorrect. Though I am still unable to find an Android App, it appears there may be one. There is also a list of international phone numbers so I am able to call within the United States. It was easy to record a phone cast. Next up, trying to figure out how to broadcast live. List of International Phone Numbers http://www.ipadio.com/page.asp?section=79&sectionTitle=ipadio+international+phone+numbers

Ok, so I can easily setup a podcast, but is there a way to stream live using the live phonecast feature? It appears that I can only record and publish.

You can build just about any app you can imagine with App Inventor. Often people begin by building games like WhackAMole or games that let you draw funny pictures on your friend's faces. You can even make use of the phone's sensors to move a ball through a maze based on tilting the phone. But app building is not limited to simple games. You can also build apps that inform and educate. You can create a quiz app to help you and your classmates study for a test. With Android's text-to-speech capabilities, you can even have the phone ask the questions aloud. To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app's behavior.

WOW! Very Scratch-like UI for programming Android mobile apps!!

38 Infographic Explores Mobile Phone Evolution - Facts & Figures (History & Statistics)

Today's students live in an incredibly high tech world- from cell phones to Facebook to YouTube to iPods- K-12 schools are faced with a multitude of new challenges that must be addressed in your student handbook. How can you restructure your student handbook to include the potential issues that may arise as a result of students' increased use of these technologies? Join us for a live, 60-minute audio conference where you and your colleagues will learn:\n\n * Keys to Drafting K-12 Handbook Policies for Today's Students\n * Online Use Policies: Facebook, MySpace & Online Communities\n * Crafting Guidelines & Policies for Cell Phone & iPod Use at School\n * Protecting Your School from Liability: What You Need to Know\n * Cyberbullying & Technology Misconduct: What Educators Must Know

A whopping 94 percent of students in a recent survey said they want to use their cell phones in class for academic purposes. The Student Pulse Survey from Top Hat, conducted by independent research firm Survata, polled 520 college students about digital devices, textbooks and learning. Top Hat is the maker of a classroom

Positive results of a recent evaluation of the mobile phone game, 9 Minutes, that was produced as part of the "Half the Sky Movement". The game was developed for feature phones commonly used in India and East Africa. 9 Minutes plays out the adventure of pregnancy and rewards pregnant women and their spouses for keeping both mother-to-be and the baby inside her healthy and happy.

Text your classroom. Broadcast updates to parents and students. Engage any student on any device - during or after school. Ask and answer questions, individually or with groups of students. Incorporate modern technology in your teaching safely and easily. Use ClassPager to instantly message everyone's phone - where you know they'll read it. Let ClassPager protect everyone's phone numbers while you manage everything easily from the web. Use ClassPager to run classroom polls in realtime. Confirm everyone's understanding.

when it comes to preparing students for success in the 21st century you not only have to think outside the ban, sometimes you have to dive in head first and break it. The following is a collection of ideas each teacher implemented to successfully break and/or work within the ban where they teach in an effort to empower students with the freedom to use their cell phones as personal learning devices.

Excellent article on using cell phones in class. Links to research, templates for lessons, letter etc. This is a much read!

"THIS year Christian Brothers' College in St Kilda East did something radical: overturned its long-standing ban on students bringing mobile phones to school. The decision was not made lightly. Principal Gerald Bain-King recalls agonising over the risks when a trial was first mooted several years ago."

Teaching Secrets: Communicating With Parents By Gail Tillery Premium article access courtesy of TeacherMagazine.org. You will face many challenging tasks as a new teacher. Dealing with parents is probably among the most intimidating, especially if you are young and in your first career. While communicating with parents can be tricky, a little preparation will help you to treat parents as partners and to be calmer when problems arise. Here's the first rule to live by: Your students' parents are not your enemies. Ultimately, they want the same thing you want, which is the best for their children. By maintaining respectful and productive communication, you can work together to help students succeed. Second, whenever problems arise, remember that parents are probably just as nervous about contacting you as you are about returning the contact-and maybe more so. I'll confess: Even after 26 years of teaching, I still get a little frisson of fear in my belly when I see an e-mail or hear a voicemail from a parent. But I have seen time and again that parents are often more nervous than the teacher is-especially if their child doesn't want them to contact the teacher. Indeed, some parents may even fear that if they raise concerns, their child will face some kind of retaliation. Remember that parents' tones or words may reflect such fears. In your response, try to establish that everyone involved wants to help the child. Here are some practical tips for communicating effectively with parents: Contact every parent at the beginning of the year. Do some "recon." Telephone calls are best for this initial contact, since they are more personal than e-mail. Ask the parent to tell you about his or her child's strengths, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, etc. Make sure to ask, "What is the best thing I can do to help your child succeed?" Remember to take notes! Once you've gathered the information you need, set a boundary with parents by saying, "Well, Ms. Smith, I have 25 more parent